The Tribulations of Xun
by TacticalReptile
Summary: Set 2 incarnations after Korra. Technology has risen to eclipse bending, political instability has grown as the United Republic has begun a hegemonic rise. The avatar must rise to deal with a variety of new threats set in an age where everything is more then it seems and where even the avatar will come to question her role and that of bending. Intended to be a rather long series.
1. Book: Fire, Meditation 1-1

Another witless move. Xun could barely keep track of the ineptitude of her mark. Clearly someone with wealth, he'd gotten off of the GXT line at the wrong end. Drunken to the point of stupor and stumble he'd clearly wandered far from his intended destination, if he maintained the capacity to have one. Xun had first seen him as he meandered past her perch on a 7 story near the GXT terminal. She'd followed him for a time, making sure this golden opportunity was as juicy as it seemed. After searching the area for any possible private security and/or Sec forces she had been finally allowed herself to be convinced this fool was not indeed a trap.

Making a wide turn in an attempt to catch himself, he drifted down an alleyway coasting from wall to wall. Now was clearly the time to strike. Xun carefully dropped from balcony she had been waiting on. One wrong step in the Runtuh district was all it took to get yourself killed. A mess of hastily amassed support cabling and scaffolding, the local population had for the last 80 years fought a losing battled to keep their homes from crumbling into dust. The upper tiers happily ignored the suffering of the lower tiers in their repugnant bliss. A third of Republic City starved while the UR continued to spout it's message of public benevolence, yet it was simply the 'way things were'.

Grabbing a nearby support cable with her mag glove Xun quickly dropped to the ground as the support cable gave way beneath her weight. "Porquepine Squid!" she thought as the ground came to meet her. She barely had time to alter her course smashing into a nearby pile of trash.

"OH WOW", the man exclaimed at the top of his voice.

"Hey, hey hey hey are... are you OK. I mean I don't know if you're OK, I'm not sure but you might be OK"

Xun rolled her eyes as she took quick assessment of her damage. Shifting slightly nothing seemed to be broken however after a sharp driving pain came from her lower back, severe bruising was evident.

"Oh good, thank god you're moving, wow that was..."

With a sound like a chorus of a thousand popping boils, the man before Xun transformed into from a stumbling tower before her to a puddle compressed beneath a pile of rebar and concrete. Wide-eyed Xun looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. As she craned her neck skywards, she noticed the chunk of wall missing from where she'd fallen not a moment before.

"Well at least you stopped talking", Xun said dispassionately to the lazily encroaching pool of blood before her. Pulling herself up, she began pouring over the mess in hopes of finding the man's credit ID. Most of the rich implanted them subdermally in their fingers, making picking someone's pocket into a macabre game of degloving someone's finger. She continued to dig through the rubble, while there wasn't a lot of it, there certainly wasn't much of him remaining either.

After some time, she managed to find a wallet buried as well as the shredded remains of his left hand. Looking through the wallet, she was greeted with a Bureau of Tax ID referring to him as the Deputy Minister of Established Rate Policy. Xun sighed, she had unintentionally killed a government official, while not necessarily brining the fury of the police down upon her this instant, it was certainly guaranteed to put her on some divisional commander's shit list. Not only that but government officials tended to make acceptable pay, but he was not the cash cow Xun had been hoping for.

Pulling the credit ID out of the wrecked and torn tissue of his hand she was glad she had worn hydrophobic clothes in anticipation. Biftian while blind would certainly be able to identify the metallic iron odor that would waft from any blood soaked clothes. She pocketed it and after ensuring that no one had seen her, she slinked away into the dark recesses of the Runtuh district, ignoring the dull throb of her side.


	2. Book: Fire, Meditation 1-2

Returning home with a mild limp Xun propped herself up against the wall. She had spent the last 3 years living on the ground floor of an old bazaar with Bintiaf. The crumbling walls of the bazaar provided some shelter from the torrential rains coming from the pools of the mid steppes, but not much. Xun had tried to convince Bintiaf to move many times but he always rebuffed her. He had some obtuse fetish with the place, always going into how it once had been a bustling community and life would one day again return to the bazaar and the Quad.

But Xun knew there was no future here, for the last 100 years the rich of Republic City had continued to move up the mountain. They had built massive concrete and steel shelves protruding from the side of the mountain, transforming it into a wonder of engineering. The giant stepped peak had become a modern symbol of the UR's prosperity and complete disregard for tradition, going so far as to abandon most of the ground level to the influx of immigrants. Even Air Temple Island had been cannibalized and left to rot, the remaining Air Nomads moving to the frigid Sky's Embrace tier atop the peak to live along with the remaining water benders.

Coming to the entrance of the bazaar, she straightened her stance, wincing as she did so. Bintiaf while technically blind and a non-bender was very astute and could easily tell when something was amiss. After receiving bruises Xun did not want to add insult to injury by enduring another of his rambling lectures.

Walking lightly to their home in an old tea shop, Bintiaf leaning against the far wall in meditation. Mottled, weathered skin covered the top of his head, gleaming with bald luster. Xun always marveled at his ability to appear a corpse; emaciated with ragged breathing and every movement lambasted by tremors he looked a man on his death-bed. Yet it had been 18 years since Xun had come into his care and he had not changed. Even then he wore a muted hope on his face, one that belied the suffering and loss spoken in the most haunted whispers of his restless nightmares.

Xun stepped into the tea shop, Bintiaf rousing himself the moment her foot ensconced the doorway.

"Something is wrong child, you walk heavy, both of mind and body. What misfortune has befallen you?"

"It is nothing, elder. I have merely come to gather you so we may sup.", Xun said quickly changing the subject.

"Xun my dear. I know something more be amiss. Your breathing betrays you, an injury on your lower right side. It sounds as if you have bruised if not broken your ribs"

"Elder, I repeat: it is nothing. Shall we go to the market and gather some food?", Xun said wondering how he managed to hear such things.

"Fine then, come let us go."

He gestured at Xun, grabbing his staff in preparation to leave. Xun moved to help him, grabbing him and helping him rise to his feet. Once stabilized, Xun turned around, intending on retrieving their food basket. Suddenly she felt a sharp crack against her side as she cried out in pain. Falling forward onto her knees, she choked for air as the pain drove it from her body.

"Bah, lying has never been a skill of yours." Xun saw his walking staff whirl around as he leant against it once more.

"Why... did ... you... do...that?" Xun gasped, tears raining down her face as she tried to breathe.

"Child, you know not to lie, there is nothing I have greater disrespect for."

"You didn't ... need to smash ... my side! If ... I didn't have ...broken ribs... I do now!"

"Your pride is too strong to allow you to admit your pain, it is the only way I was to be sure. Furthermore, I remind you again of the disdain I have for your attempts at illusion. If you must lie, do it well or not at all. You must know consequence for your failure else you repeat it again and again."

"Ayahhhhhhhhhh", Xun yelled as she swiped at him. Bintiaf nimbly stepped back, avoiding both her attack and the lamp hanging behind him.

"We will have none of that."

"Yes elder, I am sorry for lying." Xun said exasperatedly as she hefted herself from the floor.

"Tell me what happened."

"Fine ... I fell from a support line, and a man was killed from the falling debris."

"Did you see him die?"

"Yes."

"My dear, this is why I ask you to attend academy, so you can get away from things like this."

"I'm fine elder I don't need their damn training." Xun said, pushing away from Bintiaf.

"They provide an all-encompassing education. All of your studies are lacking since you refused to go. By not going you not only miss out on their 'damn training' but the very skills you need to bring life back to the Quad."

"I want no part of the future they offer. Asada and Pethiru stayed on and you know what happen to them." Xun said coldly. She felt a strong anger growing in the pit of her stomach. It was unwise to become this way around Bintiaf.

"I don't expect you to join the Defense Force, child."

"I wouldn't join the Defense Force anyway. I'm not a bender, they'd just put me in bloody logistics or some boring post like that."

"Military service is not required of the academy, it is merely a choice given to graduates."

"It's either that or a pile of cash and seeing as we're living in the 'lap of luxury' we definitely have the money."

"That is ENOUGH!" Bintiaf said wheezing with rage. "I have raised you since I found you a mewling babe, cast upon the docks. I will not suffer your backhanded sarcasm. Give me the respect I am due!'

Xun knew Bintiaf's wrath was rare, but is was ferocious as a hurricane and rhinoceros-boar mating. The last time he'd been like this she spent six days apologizing to every tenant of the apartment complex they had lived in. She had no wish to endure anything similar again.

"I'm sorry elder, I misspoke. I fear having accidentally caused a man's death has left me momentarily bereft and have acted poorly due to my distress."

Xun could see Bintiaf's face and stance soften immediately.

"I am sorry too child, such things are terrible and sometimes cannot be avoided. However, I will not have you treating me as such and I will not have you continue to climb around as you do. Please give my that toy Ruzing built for you."

Xun nervously backed up a few steps. Her mind raced looking for a quick way to keep her mag glove.

"I uh uh it uh broke...yes elder, I'm sorry but during my attempt to see if the man could be saved, I cast it aside so I could try to dig him out.", Xun quickly grimaced as the words left her mouth. There was no way he would believe such a lie, even blind as he was.

"Fair enough. I hope losing it has taught you to be more careful. Now... let us go eat. I hear Auntie Zhon has my sea prunes!" exclaimed Bintiaf with a change of expression so sudden and boisterous, even the incestuous rats in the corner of the tea shop flitted their attention towards them.


	3. Book: Fire, Meditation 1-3

It had been hours since Xun and Bintiaf had returned from the market. Xun paid for the food with the official's credit ID when Bintiaf was off lecturing a fire hydrant instead of the kids who had knocked him over. Luckily unlike Bintiaf, most merchants in the Quad were not as curious where money came from.

A dinner of stewed sea prunes and purple pentapus was not high on Xun's list of things marked edible, but somehow Bintiaf managed to cook it, so she was somehow expected to eat it. Luckily food had always made Bintiaf sleepy so Xun did not long have to put up with his probing inquiries about her activities that day. It had given her ample opportunity to reflect on the events of the day thus far and to begin recovering from her wounds.

"Ugh keep it down you old fool" she said under her breath, throwing a fistful of pebbles at Bintiaf.

She began toying with her mag glove. Going through all the induction cords, she checked for any significant damage. Nothing glaringly obvious. She kickstarted the magnet when it sparked loudly and whined. Hurriedly she turned to see if Bintiaf had awoke. Luckily it hadn't woken him, instead he had merely responded by further tying himself and his bedding into a complex knot. Xun chuckled quietly, thinking of how he was going to respond when he woke up hog-tied.

"Looks like I'm going to need to see Ru." she said to herself. She flipped open her comm and sent Ru a quick message letting him know she was coming. Her comm dinged in response as she finished readying herself to leave. She opened the message to find a wall of text.

"Nano please summarize.", she said to the ai built into her comm.

A melodic "please hold" buzzed in her ear. "Summary complete: Ruzing says belay that as his pants are currently in absentia."

"Anything else?"

"Details of the search for his pants, I deemed them extraneous."

"Thanks nano" she said quickly snapping her comm shut.

Leaving the bazaar, she headed down in the opposite direction of the GXT station towards Ruzing's penthouse. Most of the upper towers in the Runtuh district had been abandoned due to fear of collapse. Ruzing being the fool that he was ignored common sense and instead listened to the machoistic ramblings oft bespoke the minds of men his age. He established himself in the penthouse apartment of one of the taller apartment buildings in the outer part of the district. Xun had only been convinced of its safety when he doubled the mass of support cables attached to the building.

Even though Ruzing had built the mag gloves, Xun was loath to ever have him repair them. Although she was quite capable of repairs herself, she lacked the materials and circuitry expertise Ruzing possessed. How Ruzing acquired a seemingly continuous supply of fusion-cells left her flabbergasted.

She continued to mull about the possible ways he had gotten his supply of cells as she neared the tower. Looking up, one could see how much work Ruzing still did to keep the tower from collapsing. The area looked as if a spider of immense size had during a horrifying seizure, attempted to wind a web with the Ruzing's apartment in the center. It was definitely not something of beauty, but at least it looked sturdy...er.

Entering the base of the tower she began the long climb to the top, the elevators having been salvaged long ago. Xun remembered when she had first come up the tower. She held on to the walls for dear life as Ruzing yelled all sorts of sarcastic platitudes some poor naïve sucker may have taken for encouragement. The weathered steps marble and inlaid with gild may have once been something of beauty. However now they only stood as a monument of times long past.

Reaching the top of the tower after a rather egregious 32 floors, Xun could do nothing but bemoan the fact that her mag glove didn't work. With a working mag glove, the mess of cables Ruzing installed made it a mere 14 seconds to the top floor.  
Xun knocked on the door to the penthouse. "Hey Ru you better have found your pants."

A muttered response came from the door, "The dog hair, Listen here!"

Xun plied open the door, "What?!"

"Everything I wear disappears" Ruzing said gesturing at his clothes pile.

Ruzing was definitely not what one would call attractive. With his heavily stubbled face, milky white skin and deep circles beneath his eyes, he perpetually wore the habit of an insomniatic paranoid. Draped exclusively hoodies, he rarely took off his hood, which hid his already greying hair. Only 24 he looked more than twice his age.

"Ru, you look like shit."

"Thanks, you too."

"I need a fix, can you help?"

"Yeah I guess..."

"What do you want?", Xun said placing her head in her hands. Nothing was ever free with Ruzing.

"I need your help with a job tonight."

"What? Why?"

"I'll tell you once you agree and because Sec patrols at the main GXT terminal have doubled. I won't be able to pull it off alone."

"The main terminal Ru, are you f****** mad? There are cameras everywhere, not to mention that it'll be full of people."

"I'll only repair your glove if you promise to help."

"Fine. Just so you know I think you're an idiot."

"One you apparently can't live without!" Ru said, a dumb smile plastering his face. "Put your glove on the table. I'm going to get my repair kit."

Ruzing turned and left the room. Xun began removing the glove. It was a slow process due to the intricate way in which the induction cords had to weave around the wrist of the glove. It required several different wrenches just to undo the safety restraints.

After spending the latter part of ten minutes undoing her glove, Ruzing paraded back in carrying his repair kit under his arm. Xun looked up at him as she pulled the last bolt free.

"I know why you made it like that, but did you really HAVE TO make it like that. Couldn't the induction coils come off first so I don't have to rotate and separate each bloody piece?"

"NOPE", Ruzing said slamming his repair kit down on the counter. "It's good like that, there's no other way to guarantee the coils won't come free due to any potential polarity imbalances.

Xun hefted the glove at him. "Fix it asshole and tell me what's going on."

"Well... without asking how I know, I came into some information of some prototype chips from Xanatek that are supposed to hit the market this week. They're high-end encryption boards that would be worth their weight in gold to some of the more colorful souls around here."

"That's nice and all but how the hell are you going to get away with hitting the GXT?"

"I've got an inside track on the security. Yesterday I had the sheer serendipitous pleasure of meeting the Republic City Sec chief on the GXT. After a brief encounter due to some turbulence I was able to happily relieve him of his security clearance chip."

"Please, even if you did, the codes would have changed by now. They would have known his chip was missing!"

"Ah my dear, that is where you are oh-so wrong. You see the Sec chief has found it amenable to his person to remove the two factor security at HQ. He happily swings by merely on biometric clearance. Ergo, we are presented with a glorious opportunity to not only relieve Xanatek of the burden of having to sell its chips, but we also may accidentally include the Sec chief as a fellow collaborator on our little excursion."

"This is brilliant. If he comes up on the security scanner there is no way they'll go after us. We'd be able to implicate him on the spot!"

"Exactly."

"Ru, I would say I love you but I couldn't honestly say that to a man who looks like a platypus-bear's ass."

"You are so sweet."

Xun was excited. If she could get her hands on some of those boards, she might be able to make enough money to finally move out of the UR. If it all worked it would just be the simple matter of convincing Bintiaf and Ru to come with her. They'd finally be able to escape this cesspit. There was some light at the end of this tunnel of sewer scum.


	4. Book: Fire, Meditation 1-4

The GXT had originally started as a marketplace for imports/exports being brought into Republic City, located in the old financial district. However as public transportation began to emerge, it centralized around the market. The President of the UR had put the regulation of the financial sector, imports/exports and public transportation under the authority of new department: The Department of General Exchange Regulation.

GER as it had come to be known, quickly moved to establish a presence within the city. It quickly built a number of hubs throughout the city to act as stations for public transport. The General Exchange Transport quickly covered the rather amorphous sprawl of the city.

When the tiers had started to be built, many presumed the GXT obsolete and incapable of adapting. However with the development of helos, transport between the tiers became extremely efficient, leading to their full-scale adoption in the GXT.

Xun and Ruzing headed to the central GXT terminal on the Ring's Bounty tier; it saw more traffic in a single day than Ba Sing Se had during its peak. Cut into the side of the exterior of the tier, a cavernous gaping maw, the helos buzzed around like flies enthralled with carrion. Xun held tightly onto the brace pole in their helo as their helo quickly ascended.

Xun looked down back towards the Quad and the rest of the old city. The old art-deco architecture whispered of a time bright and hopeful through the pallid sheen of squalor that coated the area now. She hated it, the outright despair and misbegotten hope, one could find no respite from their living conditions. Yet, it had been her home, she could not deny. She traversed its dark alleys, crawled in its dank sewers, climbed to its highest heights, and celebrated its lowest life.

Ruzing shook her should wrestling her from her poetic waxing.

"We're almost there. Grab your bag."

Xun turned and grabbed her bag from her seat, throwing it casually over her shoulder. It was almost time, however Xun still a nagging fear she had been trying to put down for the last hour.

"Ru. Ru!", she whispered hoarsely, trying to signal him to move closer. "You're absolutely positive about this right, I mean our chances of actually grabbing that SecHelo are extremely low."

"Xun you think too much. There is an increased patrol force in the area tonight, you saw the bloody report when we hacked into Sec's network on the way over. Even if we can't find one, with the Sec Chief's pass we can call for a car anywhere we need it."

"Yeah, sorry... I don't know. Something is bother me. Whatever it's not an issue."

"Alright, let me know if that changes. I don't want you second guessing this halfway through. Just stick to the plan and we'll be fine."

"I'll be fine, you on the other hand", Xun said playfully pushing Ruzing "are lucky if you remember where you put your shoes in the morning."

"Come on the helo is pulling in", Ruzing said as he moved towards the door.

The helo pulled into the most brightly lit section of the hangar bay. Coming from the Quad with the most illustrious of citizens, their helo was due to meet the most thorough welcoming committee. Security gates were set up before them with a battery of different scanners. One would assume the Sec forces believed it to be a game of 'spot the hidden object' given their discerning scrutiny.

Luckily for Xun and Ruzing however, they had planned for this. The Sec Chief's security pass would allow them to bypass the security checkpoints by way of maintenance tunnels. It was simply a matter of finding the entrance point before they were marked as 'undesirable persons' by the security cameras.

As everyone began to unload from the helo, Xun and Ruzing pushed past the edge of the crowd and headed for the rear of their docking port. Ruzing quickly pointed out the hatch at the rear of the area, hidden behind a tangle of cables. "Xun, go make sure the coast is clear while I take care of this."

"OK but turn of you comm just in case, I don't want to alert them if I do see anything."

Xun crouched low, pulling to the side of the nearest walkway. It granted an obscured view of the docking port, but it was enough to spot anyone investigating the area.

"Alright you're clear, but make it fast.", Xun said over her comm. "Nano is there anyway you can monitor camera traffic to see if they notice us?"

"If there are any unencrypted wireless nodes I may be able to monitor network traffic. Searching now..."

"How's the door coming?"

"Heh, its weird. It's got a standard pass reader but it looks like a secondary authentication is needed from the observer deck. I'm gonna try to bypass it but it will take some time, I'm no circuit bender."

"Ok, I'll keep watch. Hey Nano. Any luck yet with those cameras?"

"I have obtained access via one the sec officer's unsecured comm, I am currently obtaining a bypass for encrypted wireless channels."

"Is there anyway we can use that to also bypass authentication for the door?"

"Theoretically yes, however I am unsure of network structure. It may simply be faster to use a manual override."

"Alright Ru, apparently this is all yours."

"I got this. I'm almost done, but whoever designed this must have been out of their mind. For a simple yes/no input this is way too complex. I could simply override it, but I don't know if I would set off an alarm in the process."

"You'll figure it out."

Just as Xun spoke, out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement just beyond the edge of their helo. Who or whatever it was was hiding, clearly trying to avoid attention, and was definitely not Sec forces.

"Hey Ru, we have to move. There is someone out here watching us. It isn't Sec forces. I don't like it."

"I'm almost done. Make sure they don't try anything. The last thing we need is extra guests and Sec all over us."

Xun didn't acknowledge Ru, but instead crouched lower trying to make her presence even smaller. She was nervous, if someone had found out about their attempt, especially one of the Runtuh district gangs, it could mean big trouble for both of them. They would not take kindly to an operation of this scale going on underneath their radar.

"Nano, can you get a reading on whoever is over there?", she whispered.

"All attempts to view the target have been unsuccessful. They have placed themselves optimally to avoid camera detection. In addition the Sec forces have noticed a discrepancy in the number of passengers upon the helo. You have approximately three minutes before a patrol detects you."

"Ru, we've got to move, Sec knows we're missing."

"Warning: camera's have been pushed to alert status. They will begin mobile patrols momentarily. Your current position is extremely exposed, detection is guaranteed."

Xun slinked back further against the wall. Whoever was watching them wasn't a concern right now. She quickly scanned the ceiling for any camera drones and quickly darted back towards the maintenance hatch.

She found Ruzing splayed across the ground with his head in a small crevice adjacent to the maintenance hatch. She quickly kicked his leg to get his attention.  
"Ru let's go they're deploying drones. We need to leave NOW."

"Hold on I almost have it, I just need to solder this one last piece."

"Warning: 30% sweep has been completed, this corner has been designated for sweep next. You will be detected.", Nano chirped seemingly almost delighted at the chance to inform them.

"Thirty seconds Ru! Come on..."

All the sudden the maintenance hatch flew open, nearly knocking Xun aside. Ruzing quickly scrambled out from the hollow, jumping to his feet. Xun grabbed his bag as they swung themselves feet first into the hatch.

"Ru how the hell do we close this thing?"

"There is a switch to your left"

Xun quickly looked around, the glow of the hangar providing the only illumination.

"NO Xun your other left!"

Turning quickly she saw a large display panel on the wall.

"Ru we don't have time for this, I'm going to pulse the panel. Get back! Nano pull all processing into shielded hubs."

Ruzing looked at her with sheer horror. "You know that would lock us in right?"

"We're not coming back this way anyway!", she yelled as she placed her mag glove on the panel. "Firing now"

Xun's arm jumped back as thousands of kilowatts of power flowed through her mag glove. Bursting through the display panel it fried all electronics inside. The maintenance hatch quickly shut behind them.

"That was to close." Ruzing said, bracing himself against the wall. "I thought we were caught! Alright it should be smooth..."  
Ruzing was cut off as all the lights in the tunnel shut off, plunging them into darkness.


End file.
